Just Take My Heart

by Mary Higgins Clark

Reviewed by Coral

Two years after the murder of actress Nathalie Raines, the police finally get a break in the case when a repeat criminal admits that Nathalie’s estranged husband, Gregg Aldritch, once tried to hire him to kill Nathalie.

Assistant prosecutor Emily Wallace is given the case. And while she tries to win a case that – despite herself – she doesn’t fully believe in, she finds herself unknowingly in danger from an unexpected source.

I enjoyed the trial story line, even though I felt the first chapter gave too much away about the direction that plot would take. It left me feeling impatient for when everyone else would catch up with what we already knew.

The “Emily is in danger” story didn’t really work for me, because it never connected to the larger story. And while I know that not everything in one person’s life has to connect to everything else, I guess in books like this I kind of like things to be connected. By not being connected, it felt very removed from the story at times.

There was also something at the end that I think was supposed to be a twist but I thought the reveal had been hinted at unsubtly enough that it wasn't surprising.

Grade: C